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Wiggle Out Loud: A Music Festival For All

The family music festival Wiggle Out Loud returns for its second year this Sunday at Bicentennial Park in Oklahoma City.

The idea for the festival came from co-founder Chris Wiser, who has seen and played his share of family music festivals as frontman of Oklahoma City kindie rock band Sugar Free Allstars – that’s ‘kid’ and ‘indie’ mashed together. Wiser views last year’s inaugural festival as a massive success.

"Not only did it happen and nobody got hurt - there might have been 5,000 people here. After it was over, somebody was like, 'were you pleased?' I'd be pleased if this was the third year. Obviously, it was time. We have Norman Music Fest, we have deadCENTER, we have Arts Festival, we have H&8th, we have a family festival. It's just another piece for the forward cultural movement around here."

Boom and Dr. Rock of Sugar Free Allstars

This year’s festival features music from Genevieve Goings, the hip-singing train conductor from Disney Junior’s TV series ‘Choo Choo Soul’ and several other acts, including Wiser’s band the Sugar Free Allstars.

But Wiser and his drummer Rob Martin, who are known by their fans as Boom and Dr. Rock, respectively, didn't initally set out to make family music. It just…kind of happened.

"We had these songs that were on our albums already that weren't intended to be for kids or families - they were just kind of silly, quirky songs. Like a song about an actual spider that lived in my shower for two weeks and I was like, 'I should write a song about that spider.' And I did and people would buy the album that had kids. And they were like, 'Man, my kid just loves that song about the spider. They just want to hear that song over and over again.' One of these days, we're going to put out an album of kids songs. So, I just kind of started coming up with these other funny ideas."

The attention from their new fanbase spurred the band to record their first album full of family-friendly music, titled Dos Ninos, in 2007. Soon, their songs caught the attention of Kids Place Live on XM radio.

"The first song on that album ended up being a number one hit on that station for two weeks. So, we were like, 'hmm...maybe we should go another direction.'"

The success with this new music venture led the band to stop playing late-night club gigs and start playing schools and public libraries. Wiser says he’s found nothing but positives so far.

"The hours are better. The pay is better. You get more respect from your audience. Kids love to rock. It's a rock show almost every single time we play. These shows are what we always wished that our club shows would be like and, on occasion, those jewels of the night where everybody's really in the mood to get up and have a good time. But it's like that every night...or every afternoon...late afternoon at the latest. That's our late gig now. But, it's like that all the time. It's like the kick in the door and like, 'Yeah, we're ready to rock. Let's do this. YEAH! WE'REGONNA GET LOUD! LET'S DO IT! LET'S DO IT!' And that's awesome. The biggest difference is just everybody's a lot shorter. But, we've kept a running list of similar behaviors between late night club crowds and kids shows crowds and its people falling down, spilling drinks, taking off their clothes, yelling and screaming, getting kicked out, getting in fights, throwing up - all of those things have happened in both."

Wiggle Out Loud is a free, outdoor family music festival taking place on Sunday, September 14 from 11am to 6pm at Bicentennial Park, 500 Couch Drive, in downtown Oklahoma City. In addition to live music, the festival also features mom and baby yoga, relays and jump rope games, and a variety of hands-on art making activites.

Ryan LaCroix is the Director of Content and Audience Development for KOSU.
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